


The Inherent Nature of Stardust

by Gothams_Only_Wolf



Series: Under The Wing of A Nibel Dragon [4]
Category: Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Found Family, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Nibel Verse, Sephiroth Appreciation Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:00:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27233137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gothams_Only_Wolf/pseuds/Gothams_Only_Wolf
Summary: In which ShinRa's strongest SOLDIER meets a dragon hatchlingSephiroth Week Day. 4 Free Day
Relationships: Cloud Strife & Cloud Strife's Mother, Cloud Strife's Father/Cloud Strife's Mother, Hojo & Sephiroth (Compilation of FFVII), Sephiroth & Cloud Strife's Father
Series: Under The Wing of A Nibel Dragon [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/722427
Comments: 25
Kudos: 117





	The Inherent Nature of Stardust

**Author's Note:**

> I'm LATE BUT LIFE IS BUSY. 
> 
> Enjoy~

* * *

Fenris found Sephiroth in a mud pit, struggling to get out with his short, stubby legs. 

"Sephi? Need some help, _kind_?" He inquired delicately. 

"Nnrgh! No!" Ah, he'd finally found use of the word. " _Father_ ," here Sephiroth snarled the title as he fought the thick mud, "said I had to get out—by my-self." 

"He observin'?" Fenris drawled quietly. 

"I... I'm not sure." Sephiroth wavered but crowed as he dug his short nails into the shale-n-limestone packed dirt. "Ah-ha!" 

It crumbled under Mako-enhanced strength and Sephiroth looked despondently at the dirt. 

Fenris pulled out his glaive, extended the pole with a snap and offered it. 

His son sighed, gave it one last try and only sank deeper. "Okay, okay, I know when I'm beat, Fen-Fen." 

Fenris gave a single yank and his son, mud and all, was suddenly on solid ground. Silver hair was absolutely caked, though the nodachi given to his son was clean, having been thrown out of the way of the mud. 

"That's a Dragon pit trap," 

"Huh?" 

"They're smart enough to set traps, Sephi," he answered absently as he flicked the mud off of the end of his glaive extension. "Most entries won't tell you that but Nibel Dragons are a whole 'nother breed. You remember that, hmm?" 

"Do I get to see 'Nika's bun?" 

"Bun's been turned into baby! Sorry to say you missed it, _kind_ , but I think dragon dung did it on purpose." Fenris sighed as he guided Seph toward the wolf trails through the pass to get to their house. 

He made sure Sephiroth knew he had a **_home_** , even if it was only part-time. 

"Baby like Aerith?" 

"... Who's Aerith, Sephi?" Fenris paused, gently guided Sephiroth to his side and knelt to make sure he could see his son. 

"Aerith!" Sephiroth picked up a rock about the size of a year old baby and grinned, "She's really little." 

"Yeah, well, Cloud is even _smaller_ ," 

Sephiroth blinked and then his eyes went wide, "Really?!" 

"Uh-huh." 

"... Fen-Fen, I don't like the dark." Sephiroth admitted 

Fenris's lips pressed thin, he inhaled and then blew out his breath. "We have a night light, Sephi." 

"What's a night light?" 

"Well, a light we keep on to keep the dark at bay," he filled in gently. 

"Oh!" 

"But first, a bath," 

"What's a bath?"

* * *

Sephiroth stared down the tub, filled to the middle with warm water and bubbles gently sloshing against the sides of the ceramic. 

"What is it?" 

"A bath, _kind_ ," Fenris laughed. "You get in it!" 

"Like tank?" 

Fenris sighed, stripped down to his skivvies and offered his hand, "No, to get clean. We'll go together, if you like?" 

Distrusting green slits glanced from the showerhead to the tub. 

Oh. 

"Did you want a shower instead?" 

"No!" 

"Mmn. Why not?" 

"I... like mud." Sephiroth moved and pieces crumbled off him. Anika snuck a shot in when mud hit the floor with a —slop!— and it kicked back up. 

"Uh-huh, I'm sure you do, Sephi." Fenris hummed, dipping his toes into the warm water. "Guess this nice warm tub is just gonna have me for company ~" 

Sephiroth stripped out of his teeny, _tiny_ sweater, pants and boots, the filthy Chocobo socks testament to their owner's love of them. He stripped all the way down, tested the water with his fingers and then levered himself into the tub. 

"C'mere, lemme get your hair, _kind_." Fenris gently rinsed the mud off, with a cup dunked into the water. It got darker and darker as he continued. 

He drained the tub halfway through, rinsing it down and then refilling it. 

Sephiroth's silver hair turned practically translucent, the length waving in the tub and lapping against his leg hair. 

"Sephi? Are you alright in the tub?" 

"... Not a Mako tank," he managed quietly. 

Anika padded into the bathroom on bare feet, Cloud asleep in her back pouch, and handed over the bath Chocobo. 

"Huh?"

"You play with them in the tub, honey," Anika explained, pulling put another one from the depths of her, Fenris had decided, extremely deep dress pockets. "Like last time, hmm?" 

Sephiroth's eyes widened as a Nibel Wolf, a Blugu and a Bandersnatch followed, each riding a wave of bubbles and water. 

"For me?" He asked, the hope almost painful as they listened. 

"Mm-hmm, every time you're here." Anika reassured as she carefully wiped the last of the mud from Sephiroth's cheek with a washcloth. "Go ahead and play and then you can see the bun," 

"Really!?" 

"Nika said you gotta play first," Fenris teased. 

"Wanna see bun!" He pouted, full on and Fenris was delighted to see some spirit. 

"Play and then dry and _then_ we see bun, Sephi," 

Sephiroth looked between them with a suspicious squint before he sighed and then played with the bath toys, water squeezed out of them with a squeak.

* * *

Fenris let him play until his fingers pruned up and then scooped him out of the bath. He wrapped Sephiroth in quite a few towels, as though his son were a feral cat instead of his child. 

"Bun?" 

"Not yet," he plugged in Anika's hairdryer, gently drying Sephiroth's long hair in scrunching motions before putting in a hair serum to dry it fully. 

He waved it over the thick hair, grateful that it never tangled or broke, merely knotted. 

"Bun!" Sephiroth wriggled out of the towel pile, buck naked and grumpy. "Wanna see bun!" 

"Clothes, Sephi, then bun," he chided gently, offering a pair of tiny underwear and one of his own shirts. 

He only had a pair of shorts and a new set of Chocobo socks in Seph's size; they'd have to wash the boots and the clothes before he returned to the Mansion. 

Sephiroth grumbled his way into the clothes, grumbled out of the bathroom and quietly squealed when Anika showed him Cloud. 

"Bun?" 

"Baby," his wife corrected. "This is Cloud, Sephi, your baby brother." 

The way he cocked his head to the side made Fenris curse Hojo once more, this time for Sharpshooter's disappearance. 

Sephiroth was Sharp's son by blood but Fenris's by heart. He could only wonder if he was doing enough, considering the terrible influence Hojo had on Sephiroth. 

He shook his head and helped Sephiroth hold Cloud, his heart overfilled with joy at having his family together.

**Author's Note:**

> Comment, complain, ect.


End file.
